Archive for December 2008

Sad news that John Gioia passed away on Dec. 26 after a battle with cancer. He was 76.

Gioia is probably best known for creating the firm that bears his name, Robbins Gioia, which focuses on helping agencies with program management issues — something that was really unheard of at the time.

A good friend of mine simply said, “Very sad. He was a true gentleman who built an incredibly successful company after a distinguished government career. He will be missed.”

I have posted the notice below… but after the break, I have the very classy note that Robbins Gioia posted… and the note the family sent around that has information on arrangements…

The Gioia family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to USO-Metro. You can donate online at www.usometrodc.org by selecting Donate from the menu. You will be able to specify that your donation is in memory of John Gioia.

GIOIA JOHN GIOIA Colonel Air Force, retired of Alexandria, VA and North Palm Beach Florida died on Friday December 26, 2008. Husband of Patty Gioia. Father of Eric Gioia and his wife Piper. Grandfather of Parker, Luke and John-Austin Gioia; son of Mary Gioia and brother of Sal and Jerry Gioia. Friends may call at the Demaine Funeral Home, 520 S. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 where the family will be present on Friday January 2, 2009 from 6 to 8 p.m. and on Saturday January 3 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. where funeral services will begin at 12 p.m. Graveside services with Full Military Honors will be held on Monday January 26, 2009 at 11 a.m. at Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers contributions may be made to USO Metro, PO Box 1710, Fort Myer, VA 22211.

I started the DorobekInsider.com in late-August — well, actually in September, when all was really running. My goal was — and is — to be a place where people can get information that helps them do their jobs better and to help build a community. It follows more than three years of blogging at Federal Computer Week and FCW.com as the FCW Insider.

So this list actually represents slightly more than a quarter rather then the full year, but… given that it is the end of 2008, it’s the list we’ll use. But it does represent the top posts so far. And yes, this is most of them. I put the top ones here… and you can read the full list after the break.

Some brief explanations: The list isn’t totally scientific. In the Web world, these numbers and rankings are indications, but like most data, they have to be interpreted. So, for example, not everybody clicks on a specific item. I will also note that I have not include the ‘most read items from the past 7-days’ items in the list. There were actually 228 items for the year, while this list includes only 219.

All of that being said… the top DorobekInsider.com posts for (part of) 2008:

The week between Christmas and New Year and we get a parade of lists — movies, books, music… and biggest stories from the past year. And in a few days, we’ll start trying to predict what is ahead — which is always a foolhardy exercise.

After the break, I have posted the Associated Press’s list of the biggest stories of 2008 — many obvious ones like the election… and some that we never would have predicted, like the economy or Sarah Palin.

What are the biggest stories impacting government for the past 12 months?

On one hand, that is precisely what government should be doing — why go out and create a government-only application when the private sector can do it maybe better… definitely faster… and absolutely cheaper? That being said, how does a government organization go about doing that — was there a request for proposals for these kinds of applications, for example, because there are others who have similar kinds of applications… and there are privacy implications. Google Moderator requires that a person register. I don’t know for sure because the change.gov page doesn’t say, but I’m guessing that when you do register, it falls under Google’s privacy policy, which is very different from the federal government requirements under the Privacy Act of 1974, which governs how the government deals with privacy.

(I should note that if you listen to our Daily Debrief conversation about Google Moderator, we did not get into these issues with Stanton. I specifically agreed to that beforehand — and said so on air — because these issues are not Google issues. They are issues that need to be addressed by Team Obama. And I have requests in, but, as you might imagine, they are not top issues for the transition team.)

So I think the change.gov Web site could be a microcosm of how difficult change is in government.

Specifically, I’m hearing that GSA, which is responsible for getting the transition team set up, is getting pings with FOIA requests of people seeking information about how change.gov came about. Michelle Malkin, who is apparently a conservative blogger, has received access to some of the FOIAed documents and her take is that there is something wicked afoot.

Last month that I blogged several questions about the propriety of allowing the perpetual Obama campaign to use a .gov domain name for what appeared to be a fund-raising front. Readers and industry observers noted that the decision appeared to violate General Services Administration rules governing government domains.

Guess what? They were right. The FOIA documents sent to Lance O., which he forwarded to me, reveal that the GSA initially rejected Obama’s application for “Change.gov.” On Oct. 21, Peter Alterman, Deputy Associate Administrator of Technology Strategy at the GSA, denied the Obama campaign’s request for a government domain because:

1) It would be a a violation of the government’s naming conventions (too generic); and

2) using ‘change’ in the domain name would be political, since it was the trademark slogan of the Obama campaign.

The day after the election, on Nov. 5, GSA Chief Information Officer Casey Coleman overruled Alterman after apparently receiving a waiver from Chris Lu, Executive Director of Obama’s Transition Project. As reader Lance discovered through his FOIA request, Ms. Coleman did not elaborate on the granting of this waiver except to say that she had “determined that it is in the best interest of the Federal Government to register the subject domain name.”

I’m generally not that suspicious nor cynical, so, unless proven otherwise, I don’t see any nefariousness here. That being said, GSA and Team Obama would do well to have some transparency here — make theseFOIAed documents available on GSA’s FOIA online reading room Web site. (Most agencies don’t actively use their FOIA electronic reading rooms. GSA’s, for example, is fairly awful. If something is there, it is hard to find. But GSA is not alone here. Most agencies make these reading rooms difficult to find — and often don’t post much information. It has always baffled me. In the age of transparency, why not post just about every request an agency gets unless there is a reason not posting it?)

Back to the subject at hand — there are a whole host of issues here — some complex and dictated by existing law, and some still complex and dictated by the way government has always done business.

I, for one, am happy that Team Obama is reaching out and trying new things, new ways to involving citizens, new ways to be transparent. Shouldn’t that really be the goal anyway? Yes, these laws, rules and regulations are important, but they should serve the public, not the other way around. Times are changing, and government needs to be a part of that change.

There is an absolutely wonderful program that helps warfighters returning from Iraq and Afghanistan as they “jump start” the rest of their careers. The program is called Operation Jump Start. And it is a great way to help others.

There is an actual event on Tuesday, Jan. 27 at the Army Navy Club in Arlington, VA. Unfortunately there doesn’t seem to be a single place where you can find information. You can register here… and I’ve posted all the information after the break. That includes all the ways you can help… and there are many ways you can help out.

If you are not able to get there on that day, you can send it here to Federal News Radio 1500 AM and I will personally make sure it arrives. Our address here… and more information about the event… after the break.

Good news for those of you struggling to complete Federal 100 nominations by the original Dec. 23 deadline: You have some more time.

We’ve extended the deadline to close of business (call it 5 p.m.) Jan. 5. You can find details on who is qualified to win the awards and the electronic entry form here.

The awards will honor 100 of the most accomplished members of the federal IT community, but we can only know about the accomplishments that set them out as deserving the recognition if you tell us. Take some time to nominate your colleagues who have performed well above and beyond their job requirements this year.